Lol. Aljazeera is not Turkish, it's a Qatari owned media outlet. But remember I said in my first comment to you, western media serves the west and its allies, Qatar is an ally of the west, so it stands to reason that they would be in on the propaganda as well.
Now, about the part of being arrested for criticising China, that is true. On this platform I've said it before, China has no freedom of speech, nothing like human rights, it is nothing new. Also, the Chinese people don't care about freedom of speech or human rights all they care about is, "is the government serving China's interests?" so your point is moot.
Your last point. You're funny sir Why would I criticise something that I don't believe is happening? From our conversations I have made it clear that there is no genocide in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, China isn't maltreating the Uighurs. So what I'm going to criticise?
I have told go to the Xinjiang province where there are 12million Uighurs and see things for yourself.
You can't shut me up. Hkfp: Hong Kong Free Press. Those guys are probably working with the western media to smear and destabilise China.
Try and find the video where they were interviewing some supposed Uighur women who were crying and wailing. Very funny. They probably hustled in some women asked them to cry for the camera
You're the one who is ignorant sir. Why not travel to China especially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. where you have 12million Uighurs and see things for yourself. The world media is being used for propaganda and you are hooked on it sir.
You probably get your news from CNN, aljazeera, BBC or some western media outlet. Those media outlets are used for propaganda for the USA and its allies.
They have been attacking China claiming China is committing genocide against an ethnic Chinese group called the Uighurs. They have no evidence but they still double down in such claims.
You just don't know how effective the media and journalists are at spreading propaganda.
Theunbothered: Russia is literally killing opposition and attacking social media communities of their global rivals with bot farms.
Putin is a dictator and I'm not surprised, people like you who love suffering and oppression get wet at this kind of news.
I have been saying this but people fail to understand me. It is only a matter of time before more countries continue to clamp down on Facebook, twitter etc. I have said this before, you can't use the mentality of America in another country it just won't work.
For example it is bad to be anti homosexual in the USA. But in Nigeria it is not. But I can't say anything anti homosexual on Facebook or Twitter which operates in Nigeria cyberspace, I would be banned, that is wrong. Those of you that argue that it is their platform so therefore they can set their rules are missing the point. Their platform operates in Nigeria cyberspace therefore they can't use America's policy on Nigeria.
Another example, China is big on censorship, the USA is not, so an American company that does not believe in censorship but an open internet cannot bring the American mentality to China, it won't work. In fact Google, YouTube, twitter, Facebook etc are even banned in China.
American companies must accept that they're operating in another countries' cyberspace and therefore must conform to the said countries' mentality and laws.
milann: A major road project in Imo State that has gulped about N12.7 billion in the past 11 years is yet to serve its purpose amidst allegations of fraud and use of substandard materials.
The project has passed through four different administrations in the state, with each showing interest in completing it due to the road’s importance to residents of the oil-producing state. The project, officially called ‘Dualization of Inner Ring Road,’ is a double lane road from Egbeada end of Onitsha road through Amakohia, cutting across Orji-Okigwe road, to Bishop’s court through Chukwuma Nwaoha street out to Egbu road.
The 6.1-kilometre road includes two interchange flyovers at Amakohia and Orji, and a bridge across Nworie river.
The flyovers, located at Amakohia and Orji, are very strategic to motorists as they provide easy routes to Orlu and some parts of Anambra State and also to Okigwe en-route Abia and Enugu states.
The First Contract The road project was first awarded in 2010 by the Ikedi Ohakim administration. The contract for the construction was awarded to Raycon Construction Company for N5.6 billion.
The exact amount paid to Raycon out of the contract sum could not be ascertained as officials involved declined to speak on the matter. Officials of the works ministry who spoke off the record claimed that documents relating to the contract were destroyed when the works ministry moved its office to a new one.
Raycon was to complete the contract within four years. However, one year after the contract was awarded, a new administration, led by Rochas Okorocha, came into power.
Mr Okorocha’s administration terminated the contract in 2011. Findings by this reporter, however, show that before the contract was terminated, Raycon had executed a large part of the project. It completed the sub-structure of the flyovers, commenced the superstructure, did a part of the retaining walls but could not complete the remaining part of the superstructure and the beams.
After the contract was terminated, the project lay abandoned till 2014 when Governor Okorocha re- awarded the contract to a separate firm in 2014.
The ‘Completion’ A few weeks before Mr Okorocha was to leave office in 2019, after completing his two terms as governor, he declared the road project as completed and opened it for public use.
Many residents, however, accused the state government of rushing to ‘complete’ a substandard project; saying the road and the two flyovers were structurally deficient. They made reference to floods that appeared under the flyovers each time it rained as evidence of the poor job.
Governor Emeka Ihedioha, after assumption of office in 2019, urged the state chapter of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) to carry out an integrity test on the flyovers.
The test was aimed at determining the structural suitability of the elements of the bridges, and to look into the conformity of the construction to the initial drawings and design.
A team of engineers from the NSE, who carried out the structural integrity test on the flyovers, said they were of poor quality and needed to be reconstructed to avoid a calamity.
The NSE Report The chairman of the Owerri chapter of the NSE, Innocent Ochiagha, said that when they noticed the ‘poor’ quality of work being done on the flyovers, the NSE raised an alarm on the defects and wrote to Governor Okorocha requesting him to provide the details of the contractors and consultants handling the project. We never got a reply, he said.
Mr Ochiagha said Governor Ihedioha on the assumption of office directed the NSE’s integrity committee to look into the flyovers and other construction works done by his predecessor.
He described the integrity committee as an ad hoc committee of the NSE saddled with the responsibility of inspecting both government and individual projects to make sure contractors follow rules and regulations for the safety of the people.
“It is a state technical committee, which makes sure that rules and regulations are followed for the safety of all of us. It is a purely professional body, we advise from the professional point of view,” he said.
“A report was sent by that committee. Emeka ihedioha was ready to act on it, but unfortunately, the game changed and that report did not see the light of the day.
“Government should exhume that report. If they want a fresh one, they can communicate with us, we can give them a copy. And if they need expert advice, we will still give them. Our major interest is the welfare of Imolites,” the engineer said.
The NSE official decried the use of “cheap labour and quacks” for the construction.
A member of the NSE’s integrity committee, Emmanuel Ossai, told this reporter that the committee made an in-depth report on the bridges and sent its findings and advice to the state government.
Mr Ossai described the construction as an engineering aberration, pointing out that the retaining wall built is the type meant for fencing which cannot be subjected to heavy loads.
“The bridges have a lot of structural defects, ranging from the beams, the slabs and the slope of the ramp. The slope is not good enough because we have what we call an exciting distance. If you are climbing a bridge, the driver should be able to see far of the oncoming vehicles,” he said.
Mr Ossai said some of the defects his team observed on the bridges include deflections of the beams, rough finishing of the concrete and faulty alignment. He also said that the interchange bridges do not meet up to engineering standards and therefore, are not good enough for public use.
“Coming to the components of the bridge proper, the beams are not seated on the bearing, so we have some level of eccentricity on the beam-bearing relationship. And again, instead of having two abutments, one on each side, we have four abutments. An abutment has its own peculiar design, you cannot use abutment as a bear that is what we are seeing at that site. The abutments have already started having cracks,” he said.
He advised the state government to revisit the bridges and make corrections by following the initial design.
Another member of the integrity committee, Ebere Ononiwu, said the committee used a ‘non-destructive method of structural integrity test’ for its work.
He said the committee noticed that the flyovers had cracks and big holes with failed abutments caused as a result of poor construction technique, non- compliance with specifications and lack of use of adequate re-enforcement.
He also said they discovered cracks at the beams due to excessive deflections.
“We suspected that the previous government used some marine boards [plywood], to conceal the deflections at the beams,” he told this reporter.
Mr Ononiwu noted that the comprehensive strength of the materials used for the construction failed far below the “BS Code 1-8-1-8 specification” of what the concrete strength should be. He said the bearing and the beams were not placed in proper positions.
“The few structures that could pass according to our test, were the few structures done by Ohakim. Virtually all the structural elements introduced by Rochas (Okorocha) failed. None of them was okay when compared with the chart shown in the BS 1-8-1-8,” he said.
Mr Ebere said the test result showed that the infrastructure is not suitable, and needs urgent repairs or total removal.
Revealing Okorocha’s Contract When Governor Okorocha re-awarded the contract, the details were not made public. Many residents were also unaware of the contractor handling the project.
However, the project was one of those investigated by the judicial panel of enquiry on awards of contracts, set up by Governor Ihedioa on May 29, 2019, to investigate abandoned and uncompleted projects in the state, find out how much was paid to contractors and to what extent the jobs were done. After Mr Ihedioha was sacked by the Supreme Court in 2020, his successor, Hope Uzodinma, allowed the panel to continue its work.
The panel led by Justice Benjamin Iheaka has since completed its investigations and sent its findings to the state government.
Although the report of the committee has not been made public, this reporter learnt from a senior official of the Imo government that the panel found that the Okorocha administration awarded a N3.7 billion contract to Gosh Projects Limited on February 26, 2014, for the construction of the flyover at Amakohia. Of the contract sum, N3.6 billion was reportedly paid upfront.
Similarly, a N3.75 billion contract was reportedly awarded to the same Gosh Projects Limited on the same day, February 26, 2014, for the construction of the Orji flyover. A mobilization fee of N3.5 billion was also reportedly paid.
In other words, the Okorocha administration paid N7.1 billion for the project, a large part of which had been constructed by the previous contractor who charged N5.6 billion for the entire project.
Contractor Speaks When this reporter contacted Gosh Projects Limited through its official phone number, the person who took the call refused to disclose his identity. He declined to say anything on the project saying his company had already appeared before the government panel.
‘’Every discussion on the contract we had in the administration of Rochas Okorocha have been deposited with the judicial panel of enquiry, our position is well spelt out, we specified what we did and what we did not do,” the official said.
“The ring road, we did not do. We didn’t do anything on the ring road. Nobody paid me that kind of money. These are our positions. It has not changed. That was what we told them at the judicial panel of enquiry,” he said.
The official also queried the amount the panel found that the Okorocha administration paid for the project.
“When you say you paid someone, then you have to show it. Is it by mouth that they pay? You don’t pay by mouth,” he said. He, however, refused to disclose the exact amount his firm got from the Imo government for the project.
When contacted, Mr Okorocha’s spokesperson, Samuel Onwuemedo, refused to speak on the amount spent on the project by his principal and the quality of work done.
He said there are court cases relating to the project and so he would not want to speak about it.
“As a media man, I cannot talk on issues before the court. These issues are in about four courts, about two courts in Abuja, one in Port Harcourt and one in Owerri,” he said without providing details of the court cases.
Current Imo Government Speaks The present commissioner for works in Imo, Ralph Nwosu, who was also the works’ commissioner when ex-governor Ohakim first awarded the contract for the road, said he could not defend the quality of work done and would not speak on the finances of the project.
“I was the commissioner for works that started that project, but when they finished it, I was not here. So I am not in a position to say anything about it,” he told this reporter.
Mr Nwosu confirmed that the Integrity Committee of the NSE gave a verdict that the bridges do not pass the integrity test and are not fit for public usage. He said people plying the flyover do so at their own risk.
“We have also contacted some contractors to go and look at it and see what can be done. If at the end of the day, there are things we can do to reduce the traffic that will go on it, so that we have light vehicles ply on it without compromising the security of the people, we will do it,” he said.
Transporters, Residents lament Residents, who should have benefited from the road project, have continued to lament the situation.
When this reporter visited the flyover at Orji, it was barricaded to avoid motorists plying on it. There was a gridlock caused by vehicles trying to make a u-turn and flooding due to the heavy downpour.
The chairman, Imo transport workers, Orji branch, Chika Nkewrem, said the people were excited when the flyovers were ‘completed’, with the belief that it would ameliorate the long hours they spent on the road due to traffic congestion.
He lamented the current situation where motorists are barred from using the flyover.
“If you come here in the morning or in the evening time, you will see that this Orji road is a no go area because of the traffic congestion. People now look for a way to manoeuvre to make it to their destination.
Since the flyover has not been in operation, it has not been easy for us,” he said.
Mr Nkwerem called on the state government to facilitate the reopening of the flyovers to ease their suffering.
Another transporter, Joseph Adimekwe, decried the flooding experienced around the bridge whenever it rains.
“If you are here when rain is falling, no road. The rains come from the flyover and join the ones on the ground. Everywhere is flooded,” he said.
Mr Adimekwe said the flood also brings dirt from different places and heaps under the bridge thereby blocking some parts of the road and hindering free movement.
It was a different scenario at the second flyover, in Amakohia, when this reporter visited as the flyover was in use and there was no traffic jam.
An auto engineer, Ikechukwu Okoh, commended the past governors for their efforts in constructing the flyover, although he described it as “substandard.”
Sebastine1994: I was just going through the comments and I lost my last 1% hope in Nigeria youths.
If I mistakenly become a president, I will do something unexpected, I will focus on the grassroots first. organize the grassroots properly.
I would organize it in a way that I can know the exact number of persons within every LGA , I would strenghteen them in a way that no stranger can come into that community without our knowledge, that one will reduce crime first
Just for one day? That's not enough time. Well I would hand over to the military to kick start the process of restructuring Nigeria.
You might be surprised at my answer, let me explain. One day is not enough. And if I were to go through the national assembly for restructuring Nigeria(which is technically the correct thing), all they need to do is delay my executive bill until the day runs out. Let's face our politicians aren't interested in restructuring Nigeria.
The Nigeria army fostered the current system of govt we are now practising in Nigeria. They did it through decrees, starting from Aguiyi Ironsi.
So it stands to reason that the Nigerian army can kick start the process of restructuring quicker and better than our politicians.
Lol from the op's narration, he didn't inform his wife before hand. It just came out of the blue. Remember he said, 'she called him around 9pm to know when he'll be back home'. This means that, she wasn't aware he wouldn't be back anytime soon. If he had told her maybe in the morning before leaving for work that, "honey I'll be with my friends after work I might come back very late", I doubt his wife of 11 years would have reacted the way she did. Knowing fully well that her husband does not keep late nights
bukatyne: So a man hangs out with his friends once a month or once a quarter or once a week and his wife is jealous she is no longer 'number one'?
If she feels so easily displaced, then hangouts are the least of her problems.
Her reaction was normal. Now put yourself in her shoes and ask yourself how you'd react if you had called her at around 9pm and she told you that she's with her friends and you should go to bed without her.
Look you've been married for 11 years you obviously know a thing or 2 about marriage.
But don't let familiarity creep in. Let your wife know before hand. And don't make it a regular thing. You're now, first a husband, second a father, your pals can come in 3rd or fourth or fifth. You can see the order of priority.
You are accountable to your wife and children.
destiny4luv: I have been married for 11 years now with beautiful and lovely two daughters. I do love my family with the whole of my heart, they are my world and pride and I bless God for His provision, Grace and love upon us as a family all these years.
The reason I am writing this is because most times I really do miss those single days as a bachelor. Back then I can hang out with my pals in the club especially on weekends and have the best of fun without any thoughts of worrying/rushing home to be with the family. The feeling is so breath taking (un-imaginable), the only thing u think of is just urself and urself alone, do whatever u want to do and go wherever u want to go just like a bird in the air no restrictions. But as a family man all those privileges are gone and gone for good.
My reason for writing this "sometimes I miss single hood" was because my wife got me so upset last night that she almost made me hit her but I didn't (though she has apologize) and I have forgiven her. I was hanging out with some of my friends and colleagues yesterday and it's really been long we had such gathering/fun since everyone is now married with family and responsibilities. My wife called me to know when I will be home because I don't stay out late at most 7:30 or 8:00pm am home, but as at yesterday some minutes past 9:00pm my wife called me to know where I was and when I will be home; I told her am with my pals that I will be coming home late, she can go to bed without waiting up.
Myself and my friends really had good time together, discuss a lot and celebrated each other. And after everything we all parted ways and before I got home was some minutes past 11:00pm thinking my wife will be asleep by then since I told her not to wait up. Lo and behold I got home open the door and saw my wife sitting in the sitting room with so much hanger on her facial expression, I was surprised she was still awake after Ieting her know I will be coming home late. The next thing she does was greeted me with annoying toon, took my bag from me angrily and took it to d bedroom which she always does when I returned from work. I know she was hangry but I didn't expect her to be angry at all, so I went to d room straight to the bathroom and took my bath.
When I was through bathing, I went to Check on my kids in their room they where far asleep, I just gave them good night peck and straight to the sitting room. Normally we always stay together in the sitting room play have fun and watch some family TV shows together before bed time. I was listening to some cool jams on TV because I was a little bit tipsy after the hang out I just wanted to listen to some soft and easy jamz to calm me down before going to bed. While relaxing my wife came from the room and started yelling at me saying I have gotten a new girl outside and planning to destroy our Union. Sincerely speaking I was shocked and disappointed at her shallow reasoning never expected such from her. I thought she was on something (drugs) but she wasn't and she has never been on such before.
After all her yelling and accusations which I allowed her to express herself (though I was almost tempted to hit her but I restrain myself) l asked her if she was through with her accusations but she didn't respond. I told her that I am truly disappointed in her for her foolish and childish behavior/reason. Truth be told I haven't cheated on my wife sine we got married and I don't plan or intend to do that. After talking some sense into her she started crying and apologized which I truly forgave her. All she needs was just that trust and confidence from her man no matter what and which I gave to her.
Sorry for the long write up, all am trying to say is there is joy in single hood and a more greater joy in being married with family, believe me am speaking from experience. As a single guy/lady enjoy ur single hood because that's all u have got now, because when u are married all that will be left will just be memories of good old single days. But trust me u will enjoy martial life more especially when u are married to ur soulmate. Though sometimes u will miss the good old days of single hood which is normal, but it is nothing to be compared with a happily built home.
olabrinks: its not like the man comes back home every night at 11pm for goodness sake it’s a one off thing occasionally. Let that man have his life, my husband comes back at 3am sef sometimes, I don’t give a damn I want the man to live his life and I live mine. I don’t want to feel like I’m in a cage all because of one marriage, what is it sef? Are married couples supposed to be tied with rope to always be together? Na wa oh.
There are things you can no longer do when you're married. You can't be married and at the same time living like you're single.
Married life and single life are not the same thing.
Marriage is not a cage, true. But in marriage you're accountable to your spouse and therefore you MUST consider them, it's not the same when you're single.
It is this mentality of marriage is not a cage that we have the Ataga and Chidinma case. A married man trying to live like a single man. The man's wife is even based in Abuja while he is based in Lagos. What kind of marriage is that?
If people are not ready for marriage they should stay single.
Lol cultism is still a thing, not just in Nigeria but everywhere. Do you know there are SEX cults in the U.S even devil worshipping cults? In some places they would use the word 'cult' but another name.
crackhaus: She said, Excuse me? *with a very surprised face*
I told her again that I liked what I saw and wanted to know what it will cost me for the night.
Her next reply was, sir I'm not one of those girls please.
I told her... sorry my bad, I honestly thought you were... then walked away.
She kept staring at me for the remaining time I was at that party.
What I couldn't decide is if she was contemplating whether to come back and take the deal, or if she was wondering what gave me the impression that she was a call girl. What woz my own inside, I had said what I wanted to say.
Seriously?! You've done it before? What did the girl reply?
crackhaus: Since she wore something that was revealing enough to show off the shape of her nunu, then complimenting it should not be the goal.
She was obviously putting it up for sale or short-time rent...
The best action to take is to walk up to her and with all the graciousness of a gentleman, just say to her "hello dear, I like what I see.. how much will it cost for tonight?"
Trust me man, I've done the above before... You have nothing to fear.
What support are you talking about? There's no amount of support that warrants buying a stake in a private company. Nigerian govt is just looking for avenues to steal or control dangote's refinery.
DubaiLandLord: Without the support of the government, Dangote won't be able to build that refinery.
CaveAdullam: Billionaire businessman, Robert Kiyosaki had a meeting with the godfather of the manosphere, Rollo Tomassi some days ago. They might not discuss things about the intersexual dynamics (in details), but Robert meeting Rollo and taking photos with him and made it public means Robert has been consuming redpill shits. Rollo works in a liquor settings and his income comes no where to that of Robert, but yet both brains at the moment are cooking something big only God knows. If Robert hasn't benefited from Rollo, someone far less richer than him, he wouldn't have considered meeting with him. (Only Elon Musk has been parading publicly with the Redpill for sometime now).
Broke shaming is a tool beta simps, feminists, the downtrodden, haters of the redpill use in demoralizing the redpill. In their archaic and stupid thinking, they think financial freedom correlates with the truth. No wonder, old rich foolish men rule and are well respected, why no one pays attention to the intelligent professors. But when things are about to fall from the cliff, they all run helter skelter looking for scientists, economists, analysts to unravel the situation. Nigeria/African politics is a very good example.
The best way to speak truth especially on social media is through the incognito mode because it will make people judge what you post based on its authenticity rather than your family background, Alma mater, level of income, beauty, affiliations, date of birth etc.
Painful thing is that low IQ idiots will want to counter claims or appear intelligent without coming up with reasonable heuristics drawn from real life observation and pattern or empirical data. They think truth will always conform to their standard or taste. And by the time you bring data or well observed pragmatic pattern they go behind screeching in ignorance with subtle abuses rather than take correction, learn and move forward.
The truth is what it is! And it doesn't care about status, power or wealth.
I am not in support of Nigerians traveling out of the country, without a well funded plan on what to do when they arrive at their destination. I find it strange that, there are some Nigerians that raise money just to travel out of the country in search of greener pastures, when there are a lot of opportunities here. A lot of times, they spend half or majority of the money raised on visas, agent fees, flight tickets and frivolous things, before they even get to their destination.
By the time they get to their destination, they don't even have a plan on what to do or how to settle down. They may even realise the money they have, would not even last them for long, they become stranded and easy prey for the worst of the worst of society.
It is indeed strange that some Nigerians can raise money to travel out but can't raise money to start a business here in Nigeria. Our government is bad no doubt. But there are a lot SMEs, BOI(Bank of Industry), N-power govt assisted programmes etc to help start up businesses.
In this same Nigeria that is hard, In this same Nigeria that Buhari is killing the economy, In this same Nigeria where there is no security, In this same Nigeria where inflation is high and unemployment is rampant, people making it legally. Those people that are making it, do they have 2 heads?
crackhaus: Desperation is what leads people like the OP into falling victim to these dubious agents.
Once you have plans to travel, take your time and don't be in a rush. Almost everything that an agent claims he/she will help you do, you can actually do them yourself.
Reduce or even stop eating outside. Cook your food by yourself. Even now that we are in the season of groundnut, i don't buy it. If I want groundnut i got to the market and buy the raw one. Come and boil it myself, knowing where the water i use to boil it comes from.
Foreign Affairs › Re: Putin Signs Law Mandating Twitter, Facebook, Others To Open Offices In Russia by angelfallz(m): 8:52am On Jul 02, 2021
